Come little children, to the hanging tree
by Ardent Chronicler
Summary: Diane never asked for this curse, Jack never asked to be sent on this case.


**I did warn you of one shots that came to my mind correct? Well this would be one of those. I heard a recent collaboration by two youtubers and it spawned an idea in my head. The rights to the music score goes to their respective owners and in no way am I claiming ownership of the video either. I am just using the idea of the song to formulate a one-shot.**

 **The song for those intereI did warn you of one shots that came to my mind correct? Well this would be one of those. I heard a recent collaboration by two youtubers and it spawned an idea in my head. The rights to the music score goes to their respective owners and in no way am I claiming ownership of the video either. I am just using the idea of the song to formulate a one-shot.**

 **The song for those interested, is Spooky Halloween Mashup - Come Little Children & The Hanging Tree - Peter Hollens & Bailey Pelkman on the YouTube channel Peter Hollens. Here is the link www. Youtube watch?v= 3SFf1CLrGeI just remove the spaces in the link. I do encourage you listen to the song while you read this one shot, it may help the tone. **

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The cool autumn breeze fluttered through her hair as she looked down from the hilltop she sat upon. Looking down at the town that had been the source of her hate for so long. Diane Wells could not stop hating the town for taking her brother away from her, her mother and father as well. It was all the fault of her voice. She was cursed at a young age by a man who left town that very day, he cursed her, a mute, with the power of her voice. She could sing, speak, communicate, but in doing so she lured every man and woman and child to the sound of her voice. She was freed from her prison but sentenced to another. Standing she smoothed down he navy hoodie that was marked by the logo of the college she hoped to attend Missippissi University. She brushed off the knees of her faded boot cut blue jeans and threw her hood over her red hair. She leapt from the small cliff she was on falling six feet landing in a crouched position. She stood and started walking towards the town and as she walked into the town she began to hum a tune.

" _Come little children,_

 _I'll take thee away,_

 _Into a land of enchantment,_

 _Come little children,_

 _The times come to play,_

 _Here in my garden of shadows."_

All around her as she walked children left their homes, walking out of their doors she began to sing softer as not to wake the adults who would not be affected by her voice.

" _Follow sweet children,_

 _Ill show thee the way,_

 _Through all the pain and the sorrows,_

 _Weep not poor children,_

 _For life is this way,_

 _Murdering beauty and passions._ "

The children followed her by the dozens, some as young as three and some as old as twelve. She continued to sing as she began to leave the seventy odd children from their town.

" _Hush now dear children,_

 _It must be this way,_

 _To weary of life and deceptions,_

 _Rest now my children,_

 _For soon we'll away,_

 _Into the calm and the quiet._ "

Her goal was so close at hand, as she guided the children through the woods to the very same quarry that her parents and her little brother had been thrown into all those years ago. She looked behind her seeing all of their dead eyes as she smiled wickedly, she would have her vengeance.

" _Come little children,_

 _Ill take the away,_

 _Into a land of enchantment,_

 _Come little children,_

 _The times come to play,_

 _Here in my garden of shadows._ "

With that last word the children began to walk off of the cliff, the sounds of their bodies slamming into the ground several hundred feet below soon became tainted with a wet sound. The sound was like music to her ears and she knew in this night she had her vengeance, and it was sweet. She began to dance humming the song to herself before beginning to head back to the top of her hill in the woods. The crows and the crickets sung with her enthralled by the beauty of her voice and the beauty of her persona.

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Jack hated these types of calls. He had been a part of the State of Missippissi State police for only four years and he already had seen more than his fair share of fucked up shit. So, imagine his happiness as he got a call, all of the towns children up and went to the towns closed quarry late last night and every single one of them threw themselves from the quarries edge. HE turned off his cruiser and opened the door, closing the car door he put his gloves on and walked forward to the scene.

"Ah, Officer Strickland it's about time you showed up. The parents who are here say they know what happened to their children and who did it."

Jack raised his eyebrow before he pointed for the on-duty officer to lead him to the crowd. He hated this part of the job the most, half of these people were going to be utter bullshit saying the lougarou or something did this. The other half would point the fingers to people they did not like and not the actual person, and finally maybe a few people would be able to give him actual evidence. However, imagine his surprise when every person he talked to had given him the same name, Diane Wells. Jack had never heard of this person before but what the people were accusing her of had to be some sort of Stranger Things bullshit. He didn't get paid enough for this bullshit.

"So, Mr. And Mrs. Palmer, you are telling me, an orphan girl who lives in the woods, came into your town, sung a song and hypnotized your children into following her, just to throw them off of the quarries edge? Ok, if you tell me what drugs you are taking I promise I won't tell the local police."

"It is the truth, you dun have tuh believe us. Jus go into da forest yurself and twill be plain as the freckles on my husband's face. She will spin her magics and sen you back dis way fasser than a cat can pounce a fly."

Jack took their statements but one thing their oldest son told him kind of gave him a reason to check this out. According to the kid this was not a random act of mass murder. This was a revenge killing. According to this kid, sometime about five years ago this man comes to town pretending to be the new Jesus. He called himself Jesus Montepilier, he was six foot and four inches tall and was mixed race. He claimed to be a faith healer to those who believed, and for the Wells family this was enough to send their daughter to this healer. Something went wrong during the healing and some how she gained powers. Now if you heard her sing she could control you, hypnotize you, like some sort of vampire and make you do what she wants. According to the kid apparently sometime a month after gaining these powers the city council all worked together to take care of the family, but their plan backfired and the parents and youngest kid were killed. Diane escaped into the woods and the town had not seen her since. So, the kid pointed this as a revenge killing not as a random act of murder. While he did not believe in the girls powers the man had to follow up on this lead since most of the people were pointing their fingers to this girl.

"How do I get in contact with her, kid?"

"Oh, well she shows up on top of the hill that overlooks the town sometimes. The police might have scared her off since they shot at her so many times, but she might be there tonight. If she did do this then she will want to see what it does to the town."

"Thanks for your help, you should be proud kid. You are the only person today to give me any type of solid lead." Jack ruffled the kid's hair as he left the room. This was all sounding like some sort of witch hunt that went bad so the girl kidnapped the kids and threw them into the quarry. However, that was only what it looked like, for all he knew the kids could have just made some freakish suicide pact. You could never tell with this new generation, between school shootings, natural disasters, and crazies anything could be possible. So, Jack had his plan, he was going to drive out to the woods, climb this hill, wait to see if the girl will come, and talk to her. It seemed easy enough. He did not know how rough it would actually be.

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Jack had never been s annoyed in his years. This spot had the most amazing view of the city, but it just so happened to be near a bunch of stagnant water, and that meant mosquitos. Jack swatted a seventh time killing yet another mosquito. Jack heard a twig snap and he looked behind him, a short, red-headed girl easily in her late teens stood about ten meters from him.

"Are you Diane?"

Diane saw this man, he was new in town. Maybe he wouldn't hate her or try to kill her like the others. So, she nodded to him, immediately he patted the ground next to him.

"Come on, I won't bite."

Diane crept slowly towards the man ready to dash at a moment's notice. Once she had been standing beside him she sat down. He did something that spooked her handing her a small pack with a lighter in it.

"Smoke? I figure you could need one. I heard what happened to your folks and I'm sorry that happened to you kid."

Diane took one of the cigarettes and lit it before handing him the pack back.

"I just want to ask a few questions. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, just nod yes or no."

Diane nodded to the man and sucked on the cigarette. It made her cough but she placed it back in her mouth and began to suck on it again.

"Were you here last night?"

Diane nodded as she let out a long breath of smoke.

"Were you here all night?"

Diane shook her head as she jammed a thumb behind her and he saw a small makeshift wooden tent made of sticks with a red sleeping bag.

"You live here?"

Diane nodded to his question.

"Did the people in the city kill your parents?" Jack looked to her as he saw her start to shake and tear up. He took off his coat and placed it around her shoulders as he gave her a reassuring hug. She nodded once but it was almost unrecognizable due to her silent sobbing.

"Have the police shot at you up here? Tried to kill you?"

Diane once again shook her head as she dropped the cigarette onto the ground the tears leaving her eyes. She had no idea how much pent up shit she dealt with but this seemed to be her breaking point.

"Hey, kid, it's ok. Now that I know that that is true I can get them removed from law enforcement and the state will send out investigators, real professionals to take care of your parent's investigation. Now I have one last question, did you kill all those children last night?"

Diane looked up into his eyes, her own puffy green eyes showing him how much she hurt. However, before she could answer a gunshot rang out and Diane let out a cry of pain. Jack was up quicker than anyone could blink as his ARMY training from his time with the Marines in Iraq took over. Two more shots rang out as he sa one miss and the other clip the girls leg. Jack quickly lifted her into his arms and began to run into the forest, feeling her blood soaking the front of his uniform he cursed loudly. She had ben gut shot.

"It'll be ok Diane, just hold on!" Jack continued to run, hearing gun shots from behind him, the bullets ringing off of the trees in a flurry of ricochets. Jack kept running for what seemed to be a mile or two before he broke the tree line and he saw his cruiser. Jack ran towards the cruiser before a bullet hit him in the arm, dropping Diane from surprise he heard her cry out from pain again. Drawing his standard Beretta side arm Jack took aim and fired three shots. Two had hit metal the other made a sound like someone punching a punching bag. Jack heard a cry of pain and he knew he hit his mark. The rustle of limbs told him the other officers had caught up as he took aim at them. However, he was stopped by the sound of singing.

" _Are you, are you, coming to the tree,_

 _They strung up a man,_

 _They say who murdered three,_

 _Strange things did happen here,_

 _No stranger would it be,_

 _If we met, at midnight,_

 _In the hanging tree._ "

Jack watched the men as they tried to fight whatever was happening to them as they turned to face each other in a triangle. Jack still had his weapon aimed at the three men as he heard the girl sing again.

" _Are you, are you,_

 _Coming to the tree,_

 _Where the dead man called out,_

 _For his love to flee,_

 _Strange things did happen here,_

 _No stranger would it be,_

 _If we met, at midnight,_

 _In the hanging tree._ "

The men fell to their knees their bodies trembling, their eyes bloodshot from strain as saliva spurted from their mouth at the noises of exasperation from their struggle.

Jack looked down to the girl who was holding her wounded stomach blood flowing from the wound and from behind her hand.

" _Are you, are you,_

 _Coming to the tree,_

 _Where I told you to run,_

 _So we would both be free,_

 _Strange things did happen here,_

 _No stranger would it be,_

 _If we met, at midnight,_

 _In the hanging tree._ "

Jack couldn't believe what he was seeing. This girl was just singing and these grown men were falling to their knees.

" _Are you, are you,_

 _Coming to the tree,_

 _Wear a necklace of hope,_

 _Side by side with me,_

 _Strange things did happen here,_

 _No stranger would it be,_

 _If we met at midnight,_

 _In the hanging tree._ "

The men started to be forced to move their hands, their weapons barrels starting to face each other's head. Jacks eyes went wide with horror as the girl finished her song.

" _Are you, are you,_

 _Coming to the tree,_

 _Where I told you to run,_

 _So we'd both be free,_

 _Strange things did happen here,_

 _No stranger would it be,_

 _If we met at midnight,_

 _In the hanging tree._ "

Jack's ears rung as three rounds were fired and the three officers blew a hole into each other's heads. Jack looked down to the girl but knew he would have to deal with this later. The girl was falling unconscious from blood loss.

"Hang on kid, I'm getting you to a hospital." Jack saw her pass out as he lifted her up and ran to his cruiser. Laying her across the back seat he jumped into the driver seat and cranked his car. Taking off like a bat out of hell with his lights on and siren roaring it would only take him fifteen minutes to reach the city. He only hoped she would make it to McComberson, so he got on the interstate, I-56.

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She was in blinding pain, she opened her eyes groaning out in pain as she looked around the white room.

"Hey kid, how do you feel?"

Diane opened her eyes as she looked to the officer who saved her life.

"Sore, it hurts really bad."

Jack smiled down to her and ruffled her hair.

"You are in protective custody right now. I've been here for the last two days waiting for you to wake up. You're lucky, the bullets missed anything vital, just bled a lot."

Diane nodded weakly, but her eyes shot open again as she looked to him. He should have walked off just then, she willed it in her voice to be.

"You, you aren't walking away."

"Why? Did you want me to leave?"

Diane was confused, no one had ever gotten past her powers before. This trooper was not even affected in the slightest.

"You, you should have. I, I am talking to you."

"Oh, you mean your voice?"

Diane nodded coughing as Jack helped her lean forward to take a sip of water.

"To be honest, I feel like something is talking in the back of my head, but I can ignore it fairly easy. I don't know how or why you got this power, but I can't charge you for murder because you sang to people. I've gotten you off the hook for now, and you won't believe it but the detectives got there late the night you were shot. They have been at this two days and already have gotten twenty people arrested on factual evidence and have found your families bodies. You can rest Diane, no one will hurt you ever again."

Diane's voice caught in her throat as she began to sob. She held onto his hand tightly and the man leaned down and gave her a gentle hug.

"Please, please don't leave me."

"I won't kid, I promise."

 _So come little children I'll take you away to a land of enchantment. Come little children the times come to play here in my garden of shadows. Follow sweet children I'll show thee the way through all the pain and the sorrows. Weep not poor children for life is this way murdering beauty and passions. Are you, are you coming to the tree they strung up a man they say murdered three._

Jack sat down in the chair besides Diane's bed as he picked up a remote and clicked on the TV. HE pressed the button 9 and the TV changed to the news and the headline is what made Diane shed a tear. "WELLS FAMILY MASSACRE: SOLVED, MURDERING TOWN BROUGHT TO JUSTICE."

Jack placed a hand softly on the back of the poor girl's head and softly brushed the back of her head.

 _Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be, if we met at midnight in the hanging tree. Hush now dear children, it must be this way, too weary of life and deceptions. Strange things did happen here no stranger it would be, if we met at midnight in the hanging tree. Into the calm and the quiet._

The girl had been able to leave the hospital after a few weeks and because of her distrust of everybody around her she ended up staying with Jack. Over the next six years the teen had gone to college, graduated with honors, trained with the police, and graduated the academy as a police officer. However, her proudest achievement was being able to learn how to talk and sign without trying to control other people.

 _Are you, are you, coming to the tree. Through all the pain and the sorrow. Strange things did happen here no stranger it would be, if we met at midnight in the hanging tree. Murdering beauty and passions. Strange things did happen here no stranger would it be. Weep not poor children for life is this way. If we met ad midnight in the hanging tree. Murdering beauty and passions._

Diane served for three years before she was assigned to be a detective, working for the homicide department. However, it was when she was put into the child services department did she shine brightly.

 _Are you, are you, coming to the tree. Where the dead man called out, for his love to flee. Come little children, the times come to play, here in my garden of shadows._

Diane was 26 years old when she met Damien. Damien had been a consult on a case and the two began to see each other, and quickly after two years of dating did the two marry.

 _Come little children, I'll take thee away, into a land of enchantment. Come little children. Strange things did happen here, no stranger it would be. The times come to play. If we met at midnight. Here in my garden of shadows. At midnight in the hanging tree._

Diane moved on to have two children, both girls, and both with her abilities but with her help they controlled their powers. It had taken nearly twenty years, but she finally could put her family's memory to rest. At midnight upon the hill she once lived and looked down on the town that wronged her she stood with her children and her husband.

"I'm ready." Diane took her husband's hand as the four walked away and for the last time she closed this chapter on her garden of shadows.

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 **I do hope you all liked the one-shot. I don't tend to do one shots or even write with lyrics, except for that one horrendous time, do not remind me. Let me know if you want to see some adventure of Diane's in the future as a possible series of one-shots. Or if you all would like, I could take this idea, and vault it for later to develop a completely new story idea and write a none anime story based upon my own characters. It is your choice, remember to review.**

 **~Ardent Chronicler**


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